Wrong Number

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Sitting at work the next day, Kara walks over. "Hey chick. How was your night?" she asked. "Good. Juice got home before me and cooked and we spent the rest of the night on the deck talking. How was yours?" I asked. "It was good. Jax took me for a ride up to the cliffs and we watched the sun set." she tells me. "Awe. Good." I tell her before she heads to her desk. A little later my phone lights up.

J: Hey Princess.

R: Hey baby. How's your day?

J: Good but can't wait to get home.

R: And why's that?

J: So I can sit on the deck and snuggle with my woman.

R: Ugh. That sounds so good right now. I gotta head to a meeting. Text you after?

J: You better. Love you.

R: Love you.

Forty-five minutes later we are finally leaving the meeting. "Why did we even have to be in that meeting? It had nothing to do with our department." Kara whined. "I don't know. But it is what it is." I tell her. Getting to my desk, I text Juice.

R: Hey my Goof.

J: Hey Princess. How was the meeting?

R: Boring as hell. Had nothing to do with my department.

J: I'm sorry. How about tonight, after sitting by the fire, we take a nice bubble bath?

R: Could you get more perfect?

J: Nowhere near perfect but you should be treated like the Princess you are.

R: Awe. I love you.

J: I love you too. See you tonight.

I see Kara looking over my shoulder and she just smiles. "I'm glad you're happy. He's really good to you." she tells me and I just smile. A little later, Marci, one of the ladies I work with says "We are all going out for drinks after work. Mandatory." I shake my head. "Okay." I say. Picking up my phone as Kara walks over. "You texting Juice?" she asked. "Yeah. Text Jax. I don't want us going alone." I tell her, having a bad feeling about things.

R: Bad news. Have to have drinks with the boss after work. Mandatory.

J: Shit. Okay.

R: Will you come? I don't really have a good feeling about this.

J: Sure. What time and where?

R: Lenny's at 6.

J: I'll be there. I'll let Jax know.

R: Thanks babe. I just don't know why but I have a bad feeling and don't want to be without you.

J: I got you. Love you.

R: Love you.

I look at Kara and say "Juice is telling Jax." She says "I just texted him. He said he'd be there too. After work, we walk out to see Jax and Juice sitting next to our cars. "Hey baby." I say. "Hey Princess. Ready to go?" he asked and I nodded. Getting my helmet and putting it on, I get on behind him and we head to Lenny's.

Walking into the bar, we walk over to our co-workers and the boss, Mark, asks "Who's this?" Before I can say anything, Juice speaks up "I'm her Old Man, Juice." He looks at Jax and Jax says "I'm Jax, Kara's Old Man." I look at Kara and she looks at him a little shocked. We all sit at the table and Mark starts talking. "The reason that I asked you all here is to tell you something that the bosses didn't want said in the meeting today. Our department is being moved to the new building and there will be two new floor supervisors. Rita and Kara." he says. We look at everyone shocked and Juice and Jax kiss our cheeks and say "Congrats."

A little while later, I excuse myself to go to the bathroom and when I come out, Mark is standing there against the wall. "Oh sorry. I didn't know you were there." I say as I try to walk past him. He grabs my arm and says "You know why I gave you and Kara the promotions right?" he asked. I shake my head no. "Because the three of us will be working late nights and I plan on us all having a lot of extra fun." he says leaning into me. I pull away and say "I'll decline the promotion." He tightens his grip on my arm and says "You decline and don't give me what I want, you won't have a job." he tells me. I nod and he lets go before walking out to the table while I collect myself.

Walking back out to the table, I sit next to Juice and lay my head on his shoulder. I look over and see Mark subtly shake his head no so I sit back up and just listen to the conversations around me. After a while, we head to get our cars and once we drive off, Kara calls me. "You wanna tell me what's wrong?" she asked. "We got the promotions because Mark wants us working late with him for some extra fun, as he put it." I tell her. "Hell no. We have to tell the guys." she tells me. "I told him I declined the promotion and he said we wouldn't have jobs if we did." I tell her. "I'm texting Jax to meet at your house." she says. "Okay. See you there." I say before hanging up.

A few minutes later, all four of us are at my house. "What's going on?" Juice asked. "We need to talk to you guys." Kara says. We walk inside and they all sit down. All but me. "What's wrong? You've been acting strange all night." Juice says. "When I went to the bathroom, Mark cornered me. He said that he gave me and Kara the promotions so that we would be working late nights with him and we could have some extra fun with him and that if we declined, we wouldn't have jobs." I tell him. "So quit." Juice says. "I can't. I need the money." I say. Standing up, he walks to me and says "Baby, I can handle the bills. You shouldn't have to work in an environment like that." he tells me. Jax says "He's right. Both of you can quit." Kara looks at him and says "I have bills too." Jax pulls her close and says "I'm at your house all the time anyway. I'll move in and handle the bills." She sighs and so do I and say, "We'll go in tomorrow and get our things and quit in person so that we can report him. If it isn't us he's doing this too, it will be someone else." I tell them.

The next morning, Kara and I ride together to work. Walking in, we go to Darla's office. "What's up ladies?" she asked as we walked into her office and close the door. "We need to talk to you." I tell her. "I heard about your promotions. Congrats." she says. "That's what we need to talk about. Mark cornered me last night when we were all out for drinks and told me that he gave us the promotions so we would be working late with him and can have some extra fun and when I said we'd decline the promotion he said he would fire us if we declined." I tell her. "Well, that's not good. Let's get this report filed." she tells us and we write out our statements. "So, head on back to work and I'll handle it from here." she tells us. "Actually, we also wanted to tell you that we were quitting. Us reporting this, if we are still here, he can cause us problems and those are problems I don't want. We're going to clear out our desks." I tell her and we stand to get our things and head out the door.

Walking to the clubhouse, we see Jax and Juice outside. "How'd it go?" Juice asked. "Darla had us file formal complaints and we also quit. She understood and said she'd handle things from here." I tell them. "That's good." Jax says but I don't think that's the end of it.